DIY Wedding Centerpieces - Need ideas

joannat23 · May 2014

Hello!

I am planning on creating my own centerpieces (with my MIL since she has done this before) as I wanted more of a non-floral / tablescape arrangement. Wood accents, colored glass, fun boxes and vases, candles with some flowers.

Questions for you all:

-Have you ever done this for your wedding?

-Was it cheaper in the end or same price as booking someone?

-Where did you shop? Store or online? What websites did you use?

-How much in bulk did you get? How much extra did you get?

-Who set it up on the day of the wedding? You, other florist, reception person, family, friend, day of coordinator?

I would like your ideas for where I can go for (1) ideas & (2) purchasing the items in bulk / inexpensive.

Here is where I have gone so far:

(1) Michael's

(2) Christmas Tree Shoppe

(3) Homegoods

(4) Target

(5) Online http://www.save-on-crafts.com/

I am planning on going to the Metropolitan Flower Exchange in North NJ for additional ideas.

Let me know!

Wedding is in Oct 2014.

TheMoez · May 2014

We are making the centerpieces for my wedding. My mom and aunt sewed runners for the table out of a fabric I selected. We bought all of the vessels at IKEA and they will be filled with lemons and greenery (the greenery is coming from my parents yard). We are planning on 15 tables, but bought enough for 20, thinking that the extra can always be used on side tables. Thankfully our location allows us to get in the day before to set up, so everything will be assembled and set (with the help of the wedding party) the day before.

Cookie Pusher · May 2014

I made my own centerpieces to use at the wedding. I made "flowers" out of dyed coffee filters that I wired to floral sticks, then put them into cans that I covered with nice paper and put some rocks in to keep them from easily tipping over. I used the same "flowers" for the bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres. In total, I spent about $25 and a few months of spare time.

Giaspo · May 2014

I didn't do DIY center pieces but did do other stuff myself, and got a ton of stuff at G&G floral distributors in Saddle Brook. It is worth the trip. They have everything from ribbon to vases to candles to favor stuff. You might get some ideas there too: http://www.gandgwebstore.com/ Good luck!

jlr92588 · May 2014

We bought antique wood lanterns from Kirklands.com and plan to use them as centerpieces. They ran about $200 (with shipping) for 10.

SewInLoveWithDMB · May 2014

I started sourcing out ideas for non-floral centerpieces, and in the end decided on flowers.

G & G is definitely great, but you need to own a business to shop there, and there is a fee to become a member. This isn't necessarily an issue, but just wanted to let you know. There is also a minimum for each shopping trip (I believe it is $35? I haven't been there since planning.) There were some great items we purchased there - ribbon, shredded paper (sounds odd, but we needed it to pack items in a decorative box), little "stuff" (mini butterflies for our escort cards), faux flower pomanders for the flower girls, 1 flower girl basket - stuff like that. You might want to go in multiple trips though - spending $35 each time cause there was a moment when I needed one more item that was about $2 and didn't need anything else. That was a bit frustrating.

For our table centerpieces, we ended up going with a mixture of hydrangeas, gerbera daisies and roses in a bubble vase from the florist. It was about $65 per table I think.

I had looked into lanterns with candles, wreaths, little sailboats (that would have the table number on the sails) - and although they might have been slightly cheaper, the flowers were easier cause it included delivery and set up. I was also able to tell my florist very close to the wedding date exactly how many I needed rather than estimating while shopping ahead of time.

You also might want to check Amazon. While I was searching, they had a few items that I saved to a wishlist as well.

And, to answer another question of yours - the florist set up the tables. That is probably pretty obvious. Our reception venue also had staff to set up other details. But, I also hired an acquaintance for $100 to just oversee everything. I met with her a few days before the wedding and packed her car with "stuff" - the guest books, extra pens, a wine bottle note thing we did, framed family wedding photos, our candy bar jars and candy, the escort cards, table numbers, toasting flutes, cake server - just all the little stuff. While we were at the church getting married, she was at the reception location setting things up with the reception staff. It was just nice to have someone who knew my "vision" there. It was not a friend who would have ever expected being invited to the wedding (sister's friend) but was happy to help for $100 for about an hour of work. (She also lives close to the reception venue - we all do, actually.) And, last minute, there was a cancellation, so she and her husband were actually able to attend and get a dinner out of it as well! I figured she was helping, the spots were already paid for - why not? She was thrilled.

That was my long response to having a distant acquaintance hired to help set up.

You also may be "out of season" for places like the Christmas Tree Shops. Their decorations may be summer/4th of July at the moment, and you might be looking for pumpkins, leaves or fall-themes. Some of their spring stuff could be cute and not-as-seasonal, but I don't know your colors, etc. (For example, a shower I attended had bird centerpieces from Christmas Tree Shops that were really cute.)

Giaspo · May 2014

Thanks for the info as I often recommend G&G to my engaged friends. When I went 2 years ago, anyone could shop there for a one time fee of $5 (good for a year for unlimited visits) with no minimum purchase. Good to know things have changed!!

SewInLoveWithDMB · May 2014

Giaspo said:

Thanks for the info as I often recommend G&G to my engaged friends. When I went 2 years ago, anyone could shop there for a one time fee of $5 (good for a year for unlimited visits) with no minimum purchase. Good to know things have changed!!

Hm. I don't think that is still the case? Otherwise, I would have done that instead (although I already had an account through my business, but it needed to be updated/renewed). I can't find a definitive answer online, but in one review, the reviewer said "borrowed a card from a friend." So, I'm not sure!

majesty318 · May 2014

We got married this past Saturday and used lanterns with candles inside and faux gems scattered around them.

The lanterns came in sets of 12 from www.giftguys.com. I emailed them and asked if I could buy 1 to see how it looked, and they actually sent me one for free! We needed 16 so we ordered 2 cases, came to $215.

The gems came from Oriental Trading, 8 bags of 25 gems at $4.50 each.

And the candles came from Ikea, 5 sets of 4 for $1.99 per set: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70124262/?query=HEMSJÖ+Unscented+block+candle

So we did 16 tables for a total of ~ $260, or about $22 per table.

littlekik · May 2014

For our rehearsal dinner we are doing centerpieces ourselves and did upside down wine glasses with white pillar candles on top. We then filled the goblet part of the wine glasses with corks. It looks incredibly classy. We also saved old dark wine bottles and put white candles in them and let them melt down a bit.

For our wedding centerpieces we do have flowers but in front of them we bought those boxes from Michaels that look like books and stacked them and put the table numbers on Scrabble tiles on top of the boxes.

Good luck!!!

littlekik · May 2014

And I meant to write that we bought the wine glasses, corks and candles at Christmas Tree Shoppe and the books at Michaels. We waited until we had a 25 percent off your total order including sale items to buy them all (we needed about 40)

DIY Wedding Centerpieces - Need ideas

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